History
John Wesley Methodism in Quinton Circuit History
John Wesley
Recognised as the founder of Methodism, John Wesley was born in 1703 in Epworth, Lincolnshire, the son of Samuel and Susannah Wesley. Samuel was rector of Epworth and his wife was the daughter of Samuel Annesley, a dissenting minister. John and his eight surviving siblings, which included Charles who would become noted for his prolific hymn writing, were given intense religious and general education from an early age by their parents.
John was educated at Charterhouse and Christ Church, Oxford and was subsequently elected a fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford. He was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1728. After serving as a parish curate for two years he returned to Oxford to lead what had become known disparagingly as the "Holy Club", a society that had been founded by his younger brother Charles for the study and pursuit of a devout Christian life.
In 1735 the two brothers sailed for Savannah, Georgia in the American colonies at the request of the colony founders who wished John to become minister of the new parish. It was at this time John first encountered Moravian settlers whose faith and piety impressed him greatly.
Wesley suffered mixed fortunes in Georgia and on returning to England somewhat disillusioned he allied himself to the Moravians in London. It was at one of their meetings that he had a religious experience that would shape the rest of his life and ministry.
Finding himself excluded from preaching in most parish churches Wesley followed the example of his similarly excluded Oxford friend and evangelist George Whitefield by preaching in the open air. Thus began a lifelong missionary journey that would take John Wesley the length and breadth of the British Isles.
Wesley helped organise small Christian groups based on personal accountability, descipleship and religious instruction and placed them in the charge of suitable though often unordained evangelists. In an even more radical move, he also consented to allowing women to preach. Under his guidance Methodists became campaigners on many social issues including prison reform and the abolition of slavery.
As a result of his activities Wesley and his fledgling Methodist movement met with much opposition. Seen as a threat to the established order, meetings were frequently attacked by mobs and meeting places stoned. In 1743 Wesley was chased out of Walsall by a mob who threatened to put him in the brook. He was rescued when an ex-collier and prize-fighter, impressed by his courage in facing the angry crowd, picked him up and carried him off to the relative safety of Wednesbury.
In 1781 Wesley preached in Quinton at the invitation of landowner Ambrose Foley in a garden building where the Asda supermarket now stands. At this time Wesley was nearing 80 years of age yet he would return several times more.
John Wesley died in 1791 and was laid to rest in his chapel on City Road, London. In 2002 the BBC ran a public poll to decide the100 Greatest Britonsand this saw John Wesley placed at no. 50.
John Wesley's Rule of Life
Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.
A brief history of Methodism in Quinton
by Dr Michael Hall
Quinton's first Methodist building was a garden grotto, known as the Hermit House, which local landowner Ambrose Foley built in his farm garden on the land where the Asda supermarket now stands. John Wesley preached here in March 1781 and again on his subsequent visits. The grotto was replaced in 1785-1786 by the first preaching house, standing on Foley's estate near the turnpike road. Also in 1786 Ambrose Foley began a Sunday School at his Meeting House at The Quinton.
Forty years after Wesley came to Quinton, Primitive Methodism (an offshoot of Wesleyan Methodism) arrived, when Mr Deeley of Tinker's Farm invited a group of Quinton "ranters" to worship in his farmhouse. Much violent village opposition ensued. Preachers were persecuted; pelted with rotten eggs; windows in their worship place were broken – at one time there was scarcely a whole pane left!
1827 also saw development in Quinton's Primitive Methodist cause when Samuel Chatwin of Monckton Farm had a barn on his land converted to a chapel. Some time later James Hall, one of the members of the Barn Chapel, bought a cottage not a stone's throw from Foley's Wesleyan Preaching House and sold to the Primitive Society as much of the garden as they needed. Within two months the foundation stone was laid and the building rose amidst much opposition and conflict. Bethesda Chapel was opened on November 8th 1840 with great celebrations.
1873 saw Quinton Wesleyans join Birmingham's Islington Circuit and a decision to build a new chapel, on the understanding that the cost did not exceed £600, of which £300 was to be raised locally. A site was purchased on the turnpike road for £160. Four years later the Toll House and premises were also purchased at the further cost of £100. Hagley Road Chapel was opened on April 8th 1878. Costs had soared to £957; only £244 had been raised and pew rents varied between 1s (5p) per sitting and 6d (2.5p) per quarter. These premises were extended in 1891 by the building of a school room at an additional cost of £120.
Shortly after the 1882 arrival in Quinton of Bourne College (a school for Primitive Methodism's sons) and no doubt inspired by its presence, Quinton's Primitive Methodist trustees decided to plan a new chapel. 1888 saw the opening of College Road Chapel. Six years later extra land was purchased for outbuildings and in 1897 the architect returned to plan an archway behind the pulpit to house a pipe organ.
Three years after Methodist Union (which marked the joining of Wesleyans and Primitives) in 1932, Hagley Road ex-Wesleyan Society agreed to a merger, in College Road's premises, with the ex-Primitives. Hagley Road Chapel then served as the Sunday School until it was sold to the GPO for use as a sorting office in 1936. The combined membership of 78 in the new Society expanded rapidly and its needs were met in 1952 by the purchase of land on which a new hall was opened six years later. £15,000 had provided a hall and five ancillary rooms. No one who took part in the extensive fundraising could have anticipated that this new building would have a life of just ten years.
When notice was received that the M5 would be cut through Quinton, placing a Compulsory Purchase Order on College Road Church, the trustees happily seized the opportunity offered. Built by William Jackson of Langley Green to a design by Selby Clewer of Bournville Village Trust, on land almost opposite the existing chapel, the new Quinton Methodist Church opened on February 3rd 1968.
The opening ceremony was performed by Miss Mary Partridge, a church member who had been present at the opening of College Road Chapel eighty years earlier, before a congregation of 700, filling every available chair throughout the premises. A fault in the public address system meant that people seated in ancillary rooms heard a relay of the Mark Roman Pop Show that was being aired on the BBC's fledgling Radio One rather than the service at which circuit ministers and the chairmen of Birmingham and Wolverhampton & Shrewsbury Methodists Districts officiated.
Increasing numbers in Junior Church led to an extension of the premises in 1981, when two new classrooms were opened by Mrs Ethel Perry, wife of the first minister of the new church.
So although in 2018 Quinton Methodism celebrated the Golden Jubilee of its present building, Methodism in Quinton has existed for more than 235 years and has been served by five chapels as well as the variety of kitchens, barns and grottoes where people have met to sing their praises.
Birmingham (West) & Oldbury Circuit History
